"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games," Disney informed Game Informer in a statement. "As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."

part of me wants to scream FUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKK in nostalgia while the other part thinks that this will be good for Star Wars games (and their other properties) in general since LA since it has been a while since Lucasarts themselves have put out a quality game.

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Man...that's tough to read. They had a great run, especially in the 80s and 90s.

It will probably be a lot more profitable for them to sell and consult on the license than to maintain a development studio...similar to how Marvel does things. They can just sit back and have people come to them, without having to carry the development costs or risks.

Edited: Boo! They canceled the existing projects? 1313 was looking and sounding good!

My favorite thing about Lucasarts was the funny intros with dancing stormtroopers and such they would put at the beginning of their games. I usually think about how I would love to play an HD remade version of X-Wing and TIE Fighter most every day. Those two games were so awesome.

It's true that LucasArts hasn't really made a game I loved in years. And of course going the license route reduces their financial risk while also potentially exposing their properties to outside talent that could do them real justice.

1313 was a standout amazing thing though. Seeing it in action, I WANTED that game...can't say that was the case with their titles for a long time. I hope people somehow convince them to keep going with that title....or farm the whole thing as-is to somebody. Something!

TBH 1313 didn't really excite me,it looked pretty,but that's about it....i was expecting another Force Unleashed type game from it..i remember Force Unleashed looked pretty damn amazing,yet it turned out to be a complete pig of a game

It was a dumb decision anyway a year or two ago to say that all their games from now on would be in-house(except they said SW:TOR)

Been spending a little time today researching the LucasArts game library to remind myself of some of my personal favorites. Looking back, they sure did make an incredible number of great and classic games:

My favorites:Rescue on Fractalus - That and Ballblazer were the first LA games I ever played. Rescue was so awesome because of the jump-out-of-your-chair moment when the pilot you were supposed to rescue was an alien and scared the living crap out of you. Good times.

Their Finest Hour/Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe - I spent countless hours at my friend's house playing these games. As flight sims, they were not terribly realistic even back in the day, but the gameplay was so incredibly addicting and compelling. The graphics at the time were pretty awesome too.

X-Wing/Tie Fighter - A couple of the greatest games ever made in my opinion. Yes, the missions were highly scripted and almost puzzle-like a lot of the time, but there was nothing cooler than flying those iconic Star Wars ships. The fact that a modern sequel, or even reboot game was never developed was a colossal missed opportunity by LA. Hell, even reskinned versions of the originals on Xbox Live or PSN would have been a sure fire hit.

Full Throttle - Probably my favorite LA adventure game. The story, voice acting and soundtrack were all perfect. If only the game wasn't so short. I still listen to the soundtrack today, by the Bone Jackals (Bone to Pick is the album and still available on Amazon). This game deserved a sequel, which LA attempted twice but canceled.

Website Kotaku is reporting that 150 LucasArts employees have been laid off, and that the games Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 have been cancelled. However, the representative we spoke to said that the company is also evaluating its options regarding projects currently in development, which could be licensed out to external development and publishing partners:

Quote

"It is worth noting that we are looking for proven external partners who can help us provide video games to our fans. We still believe in the video game industry, we still will provide Star Wars games, we're just looking at different models rather than internal production... They're evaluating everything. There's always a possibility that it [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing."

The representative also remarked on the general mood at the studio today, which, understandably, is not upbeat:

Quote

"It's super sad. It's a terrible day. I want to make sure everyone realizes that there still will be Star Wars games out there."

As for the 150 employees Gearbox and Ubisoft have both been advertising today for job openings afetr todays news,so hopefully they can all find new jobs quickly

I can see why Lucas, as a standalone company, would want to fix its games division. But Disney has no such need. It has a games division already, it doesn’t need to try to fix LucasArts’ problems. It’s sad when hundreds of people lose their jobs, but organizations that are no longer competitive need to die to make room for ones that are. If it’s Star Wars games you’re after, there’s no reason an external developer can’t handle them.

And if you’re nostalgic for the great old Lucas games of old, like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, this is good news for you. First of all, the people who made those games are already working at Telltale or Double Fine making exactly what you wish Lucas was still making. If you want a new Grim Fandango, a shift to a licensing-only model makes it more likely that Disney will look to cash in on that latent demand.

Again, if you’re in that latter group, the LucasArts you’re so nostalgic for died a long, long time ago when the company cancelled its Sam & Max sequel and laid off the whole team. And then that team formed Telltale Games and eventually made The Walking Dead. The LucasArts that died today is not the one you loved, and it was never going to be again.

I can see why Lucas, as a standalone company, would want to fix its games division. But Disney has no such need. It has a games division already, it doesn’t need to try to fix LucasArts’ problems. It’s sad when hundreds of people lose their jobs, but organizations that are no longer competitive need to die to make room for ones that are. If it’s Star Wars games you’re after, there’s no reason an external developer can’t handle them.

And if you’re nostalgic for the great old Lucas games of old, like Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, this is good news for you. First of all, the people who made those games are already working at Telltale or Double Fine making exactly what you wish Lucas was still making. If you want a new Grim Fandango, a shift to a licensing-only model makes it more likely that Disney will look to cash in on that latent demand.

Again, if you’re in that latter group, the LucasArts you’re so nostalgic for died a long, long time ago when the company cancelled its Sam & Max sequel and laid off the whole team. And then that team formed Telltale Games and eventually made The Walking Dead. The LucasArts that died today is not the one you loved, and it was never going to be again.

that's pretty much how I feel.

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I'm not surprised at all considering virtually every Star Wars videogame that was good in the past decade was developed by a 3rd party studio. Add to that the fact that LA left their non Star Wars AAA licenses frozen in hibernation. 1313 did look promising, but I had fears it would amount to another Force Unleashed - good game at the core, but marred by a few nasty bugs and some poor level design decisions. I'm skeptical Disney will do the SW franchise justice by licensing games through 3rd parties. The whole setting demands things on a epic and grand scale and I can't imagine many publishers wanting to fork out the $ to pull that off. If they had the imagination to allow smaller, more retro-styled SW games to be created by Indie studios we could get good games, but I doubt Disney can think that much out of the box.

I guess on a positive note this could be good for fans of the Old Republic Online, as without competition from videogames it might have more of a fighting chance now as a F2P MMO.

The whole setting demands things on a epic and grand scale and I can't imagine many publishers wanting to fork out the $ to pull that off.

When the new movies are closer to being released, the Star Wars license will suddenly appear very attractive. I predict that there will be no shortage of offers from those who wish to make games for it.

The whole setting demands things on a epic and grand scale and I can't imagine many publishers wanting to fork out the $ to pull that off.

When the new movies are closer to being released, the Star Wars license will suddenly appear very attractive. I predict that there will be no shortage of offers from those who wish to make games for it.

I don't doubt they'll be many offers, but I doubt they'll be projects on the scale of games like SW Battlefront or even Raven Softs Jedi Knight games. I think 3rd party publishers will opt to bring games on the scale and quality of what Krome studios recent, craptastic releases were. Why make a quality game when you've sure to make $ on a crappy, lesser offering who's sales are being pushed by the popularity of a blockbuster movie?

I'm not sad to see LucasArts go. The spiritual successors live on in places like Double Fine and Telltales.

I would say the saddest thing about the studio shutting down will be the dismantling of the studio itself - I had been there a handful of times in the past five years and it was always a cool experience to see all the Star Wars (and various other properties) movie props.

The whole setting demands things on a epic and grand scale and I can't imagine many publishers wanting to fork out the $ to pull that off.

When the new movies are closer to being released, the Star Wars license will suddenly appear very attractive. I predict that there will be no shortage of offers from those who wish to make games for it.

I don't doubt they'll be many offers, but I doubt they'll be projects on the scale of games like SW Battlefront or even Raven Softs Jedi Knight games. I think 3rd party publishers will opt to bring games on the scale and quality of what Krome studios recent, craptastic releases were. Why make a quality game when you've sure to make $ on a crappy, lesser offering who's sales are being pushed by the popularity of a blockbuster movie?

I think the excitement is already mounting and Star Wars is still a sandbox that plenty of people want to play in, design-wise. Especially with the chance to do something good.

I imagine that if we don't hear an announcement very soon, it'll only be because Disney wants to keep its cards close to the chest.